Wireless communication systems transfer signals from a transmitter (TX) of one station to a receiver (RX) of another station. In applications such as airborne wireless communication systems, one of the stations can be ground-based (i.e., stationary) while the other station can be carried by an aerial station (e.g., a flying object such as a satellite in Earth's orbit or an airplane). The ground station, for example, can be electronic user equipment that directly or indirectly (e.g., via an intermediary router or a switch) communicates with the flying object.
In wireless airborne systems, an aerial station can communicate with ground stations using different logical configurations. In one type of logical configuration, an aerial station can communicate with a single ground station via a dedicated point to point (PTP) link. In a PTP link, there is a single aerial station and a single ground station communicating at a given time. In a PTP link, the capacity of the transmission channel is dedicated for a single connection between a ground station and an aerial station.
In another type of logical configuration, an aerial station can communicate with multiple ground stations via a shared point to multi point (PTMP) link. In a PTMP link, the capacity of the transmission channel is shared among the ground stations connected to the link. Thus, for applications in which a limited number of aerial stations are providing connectivity to a large number of ground stations, a PTMP facilitates better resource utilization than a PTP link. In a PTMP network, a ground station determines whether it is the intended recipient of the packet based on the address field in the packet. If the ground station determines that it is the intended recipient, a ground station keeps the packet for further processing. Otherwise, the ground station discards the packet. A PTMP link typically is easier to install, has lower cost to maintain, and provides greater reliability than a PTP link.